But the Issue Finds...[5]
But The Issue Finds Itself with You at the Center- Part 5
Fandom/Pairing: Super Junior- Kyumin, implied Haehyuk, Hanchul and JeTi(SNSD)
Length: Chaptered [5/5]
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Romance, Drama, AU
Summary: Being together isn’t worth this kind of hurt.
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4][Part 5]
Sungmin woke up that morning to the bustling sound of Manhattan city, like he had for the last five years.
He quickly got out of bed and into his shower to get ready for the busy day ahead.
Sungmin watched his reflection as he grinned at himself, fixing his hair dark hair so it didn’t fall in front of his eye.
The bubbly man stepped into the kitchen to make a quick breakfast when his phone rang. He picked it up eagerly.
“Hello?” Sungmin answered while looking for eggs in his fridge.
“Annyaseyo hyung!”
Sungmin grinned at the voice on the other line. “Sungjin-ah! How are you?”
“Fine. You know the usual. Umma and Appa forcing me to work harder, going to school, studying. I wish I was living with you hyung! You’re so lucky!”
“Yah!” Sungmin scolded. “You’re the luck one! You get to see everyone everyday! Besides, if you lived with me I’d make you work twice as hard as Umma does.”
Sungmin could almost hear Sungjin pouting on the other line. “You’re so mean hyung…”
The two brothers continued talking, catching up on new events and talking about friends and family back in Korea, while Sungmin made his breakfast.
After a while, they hung up, Sungmin mentioning that he would be late for classes.
The young man rushed outside into the busy streets of the city and fought for a cab for five minutes, before finally heading to Eunhyuk's house.
Eunhyuk Lee, who was Korean, was the first friend Sungmin had made after moving to the states. They used to be dorm-mates, and it didn’t take long for them to find common ground. It started with DDR. Eunhyuk loved to dance. He was better than Sungmin, as much as the older man hated to admit. The two would go to the arcade every other day after classes to play. Soon Sungmin found out about Eunhyuk’s sexuality, but it just made the two closer.
As the cab skidded to a stop in front of Eunhyuk’s apartment building, Sungmin's phone rang. The man quickly pulled it out, no checking the ID before pressing talk.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?! We’re going to be late!”
Sungmin rolled his eyes. “I’m down stairs you dolt! Hurry up!”
Two minutes later, Eunhyuk walked out of the building, followed by another man with slightly shaggy hair covering his eyes.
“Scoot.” Eunhyuk commanded as he opened the cab door. Sungmin complied and let the two men file into the taxi.
“Donghae, you forgot to comb your hair again.” Sungmin tsked, brushing the hair from Donghae’s eyes.
“Sorry.” Donghae said yawning.
Donghae Lee wasn’t a morning person. Sungmin had realized that three years ago when Eunhyuk had first brought the younger boy over to their dorm and announced him as his boyfriend. Donghae had sleep over that night, and the next day was a disaster.
Sungmin sighed tiredly and fiddled with the phone in his pocket.
“You look anxious.” Eunhyuk told him half way to the university. “Are you okay?”
The younger boy put a hand to Sungmin's forehead to check for fever. Sungmin brushed the hand away. “I’m fine, Hyuk. I’m just expecting something important today.”
Eunhyuk nodded to Sungmin and the rest of the ride was silent, save Donghae’s slight snoring from where he was sleeping against Eunhyuk’s shoulder.
Sungmin's weekdays were pretty repetitive. Get up, go to classes, grab lunch with Jessica (or go shopping, whichever caught their eyes first.), go volunteering at the daycare three blocks from his house, hang out with his friends, go home, sleep, and repeat.
“Okay.” Jessica said, putting down her fork to look at Sungmin seriously. “Something’s distracting you, Min.”
Sungmin's first impression of Jessica Jung wasn’t a good one. She was the type of girl who wore short-shorts and spaghetti-straps to get the attention. She was hot and she knew it, and she never hesitated to show it off.
Imagine his surprise when Sungmin found out that she’s actually his long-time-friend Tiffany’s ex. Apparently , the two dated back when Tiffany lived in America, they had broken off when she had moved, but they were still close. Really close (Sungmin shudders at the memory of stumbling upon some of Jessica’s more…finer pictures of Tiffany one day when he was going through her computer behind her back.) Jessica was by no means Lesbian though. She swung both ways; Sungmin figured that out the hard way, unfortunately.
“I’m fine ‘Sica.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Yea. Right. And I have a penis and a flat chest.”
The older man sighed. “Seriously, it’s nothing. I just have something-“ Sungmin's phone went off again, playing an obnoxious tune that had people glaring at him. Sungmin pressed talk quickly and put the phone to his ears, only to have a voice cry at him.
“Minnie! I need help!”
Sungmin looked at Jessica and the girl made a little ‘shoo’ motion with her hands. Sungmin smiled gratefully before getting out of his seat to talk privately.
“Mimi, what’s wrong baby.”
“Minnie! Everyone’s away today! Can you come to help early today? Please? I can’t look after everyone alone! Please Minnie! For me?”
Sungmin could almost see Zhou Mi pouting on the other end of the phone. “Sure.”
“Thank you! Ah- Kevin! Eli! Get down from-“
The phone went dead.
Sungmin sniggered to himself and walked back to his table, where Jessica was finishing off the last of his food. “I gotta go ‘Sica, before the kids tear poor Mimi alive.”
Jessica laughed at the image. She walked Sungmin outside before the two separated at the cross light.
“I’m here!”
An entire roomful of little kids stopped what they were doing before rampaging over to him and giving him hugs and kisses.
One little girl, Luna, dragged him off to read them stories.
“Minnie! Turn the page.” Sungmin snapped out of thoughts and realized that he must have dazed off. Smiling sheepishly at the kids, he continued to read.
Zhou Mi came up to him after the kids had fallen asleep. “Are you okay Minnie? You don’t seem too focused today.”
Sungmin smiled at the tall man. Zhou Mi was a tall, Chinese man Sungmin had first met at a charity drive a year back. Honestly, Zhou Mi had intimidated him at first. The other man was tall and beautiful and looked like he belonged on a runway rather than a daycare. Despite the first impressions, Sungmin and Zhou Mi had lots in common. They both liked shopping, Hello Kitty, Shojo Manga. Pink (because not many men liked pink nowadays.) Even their nicknames were similar! How could they not have become friends?
“I’m fine Mimi.” Sungmin beamed at Zhou Mi. The taller man had shown off an equally bright smile.
“Something good?”
Sungmin looked at Zhou Mi, surprised. He smiled softly.
“Yea.” Sungmin fiddled with the phone he’d fished out of his pocket. “Something great.”
When Sungmin arrived at the dinner Eunhyuk had told him to be at, Heechul was on the phone speaking to someone. He kept switching between English, Korean and broken Mandarin. Sungmin had guessed that he was talking to Han Geng, his boyfriend, by the level of his voice and the ferocity of his speech.
“So how is Geng?” Sungmin had asked after Heechul had finally hungup, and Eunhyuk had walked through the door.
“Fine.” Heechul replied bluntly.
Becoming friends with Heechul’s was probably the weirdest process he’s ever gone through.
Sungmin had known about Heechul since the beginning of university as the campus’s biggest ‘Drama Queen’. It was by complete chance tht he’d bumped into him in the hall. Heechul cursed at him before grabbing him by the chin, kissing him, muttering something about potential and dragging him off. Their ‘friendship’ at first had been based of petty threats and Heechul’s experiments, but over the years, they had formed a real friendship, surprisingly. And Heechul wasn’t so bad once you knew him and didn’t get on his bad side.
The three friends hung out at the dinner, talking eating and doing nothing in particular. Sungmin constantly fingered the phone in his pocket unconsciously throughout the time.
“And then he’s like-“
“Hold on.” Sungmin pushed his finger against Heechul’s lips when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, effectively shutting the older man up. Heechul rolled his eyes but sat back and sipped his iced-tea either way.
“Hello?”
Sungmin smiled, his breath catching, when a voice on the other side erupted in song, voice smooth and beautiful.
The young man waited until the song was over, and the same voice spoke words that he’d been waiting to hear all day.
“Hyung, I’m at the airport. Come pick me up?”
Sungmin smiled giddily into the receiver. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Wait for me.”
“I’ve been waiting for five years, I’m not gonna stop now.”
Sungmin grinned as he turned the phone off. “I have to go.” He said, getting out of his seat abruptly and grabbing his things.
“Where are you going?” Eunhyuk asked, raising his eyebrow.
“I’m meeting my boyfriend.” Sungmin smiled angelically and ran off before he had to answer any more questions.
Sungmin ran through the airport doors in a hurry. He scanned the vast crowd for familiar figure.
The man sighed dejectedly as nothing seemed to cross his view.
“Are you looking for anyone in particular?” Sungmin jumped when a velvety voice ghosted over his ear.
The dark-haired man spun around as arms wrapped around his waist. “Not anymore.” Sungmin wraps his own arms around the person. “I missed you, Kyuhyun.” He whispers into Kyuhyun’s chest, unable to help the tears that slowly leaked out from him.
Kyuhyun slowly rubbed circles into Sungmin's back, burying his own face into the shorter man’s hair. “Don’t cry, Min. I’m here now. “
Sungmin looked up from Kyuhyun’s chest, eyes still teary. “I know. And this time, things will be better.”
Sungmin leaned up and kissed Kyuhyun on the lips.
A wave of awes fell around them from people witnessing the scene, but the two men only saw each other.
Because they were together. And this time, this time they would start over, and they would make it work, because nothing could get between them now.
Fandom/Pairing: Super Junior- Kyumin, implied Haehyuk, Hanchul and JeTi(SNSD)
Length: Chaptered [5/5]
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Romance, Drama, AU
Summary: Being together isn’t worth this kind of hurt.
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4][Part 5]
Sungmin woke up that morning to the bustling sound of Manhattan city, like he had for the last five years.
He quickly got out of bed and into his shower to get ready for the busy day ahead.
Sungmin watched his reflection as he grinned at himself, fixing his hair dark hair so it didn’t fall in front of his eye.
The bubbly man stepped into the kitchen to make a quick breakfast when his phone rang. He picked it up eagerly.
“Hello?” Sungmin answered while looking for eggs in his fridge.
“Annyaseyo hyung!”
Sungmin grinned at the voice on the other line. “Sungjin-ah! How are you?”
“Fine. You know the usual. Umma and Appa forcing me to work harder, going to school, studying. I wish I was living with you hyung! You’re so lucky!”
“Yah!” Sungmin scolded. “You’re the luck one! You get to see everyone everyday! Besides, if you lived with me I’d make you work twice as hard as Umma does.”
Sungmin could almost hear Sungjin pouting on the other line. “You’re so mean hyung…”
The two brothers continued talking, catching up on new events and talking about friends and family back in Korea, while Sungmin made his breakfast.
After a while, they hung up, Sungmin mentioning that he would be late for classes.
The young man rushed outside into the busy streets of the city and fought for a cab for five minutes, before finally heading to Eunhyuk's house.
Eunhyuk Lee, who was Korean, was the first friend Sungmin had made after moving to the states. They used to be dorm-mates, and it didn’t take long for them to find common ground. It started with DDR. Eunhyuk loved to dance. He was better than Sungmin, as much as the older man hated to admit. The two would go to the arcade every other day after classes to play. Soon Sungmin found out about Eunhyuk’s sexuality, but it just made the two closer.
As the cab skidded to a stop in front of Eunhyuk’s apartment building, Sungmin's phone rang. The man quickly pulled it out, no checking the ID before pressing talk.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?! We’re going to be late!”
Sungmin rolled his eyes. “I’m down stairs you dolt! Hurry up!”
Two minutes later, Eunhyuk walked out of the building, followed by another man with slightly shaggy hair covering his eyes.
“Scoot.” Eunhyuk commanded as he opened the cab door. Sungmin complied and let the two men file into the taxi.
“Donghae, you forgot to comb your hair again.” Sungmin tsked, brushing the hair from Donghae’s eyes.
“Sorry.” Donghae said yawning.
Donghae Lee wasn’t a morning person. Sungmin had realized that three years ago when Eunhyuk had first brought the younger boy over to their dorm and announced him as his boyfriend. Donghae had sleep over that night, and the next day was a disaster.
Sungmin sighed tiredly and fiddled with the phone in his pocket.
“You look anxious.” Eunhyuk told him half way to the university. “Are you okay?”
The younger boy put a hand to Sungmin's forehead to check for fever. Sungmin brushed the hand away. “I’m fine, Hyuk. I’m just expecting something important today.”
Eunhyuk nodded to Sungmin and the rest of the ride was silent, save Donghae’s slight snoring from where he was sleeping against Eunhyuk’s shoulder.
Sungmin's weekdays were pretty repetitive. Get up, go to classes, grab lunch with Jessica (or go shopping, whichever caught their eyes first.), go volunteering at the daycare three blocks from his house, hang out with his friends, go home, sleep, and repeat.
“Okay.” Jessica said, putting down her fork to look at Sungmin seriously. “Something’s distracting you, Min.”
Sungmin's first impression of Jessica Jung wasn’t a good one. She was the type of girl who wore short-shorts and spaghetti-straps to get the attention. She was hot and she knew it, and she never hesitated to show it off.
Imagine his surprise when Sungmin found out that she’s actually his long-time-friend Tiffany’s ex. Apparently , the two dated back when Tiffany lived in America, they had broken off when she had moved, but they were still close. Really close (Sungmin shudders at the memory of stumbling upon some of Jessica’s more…finer pictures of Tiffany one day when he was going through her computer behind her back.) Jessica was by no means Lesbian though. She swung both ways; Sungmin figured that out the hard way, unfortunately.
“I’m fine ‘Sica.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Yea. Right. And I have a penis and a flat chest.”
The older man sighed. “Seriously, it’s nothing. I just have something-“ Sungmin's phone went off again, playing an obnoxious tune that had people glaring at him. Sungmin pressed talk quickly and put the phone to his ears, only to have a voice cry at him.
“Minnie! I need help!”
Sungmin looked at Jessica and the girl made a little ‘shoo’ motion with her hands. Sungmin smiled gratefully before getting out of his seat to talk privately.
“Mimi, what’s wrong baby.”
“Minnie! Everyone’s away today! Can you come to help early today? Please? I can’t look after everyone alone! Please Minnie! For me?”
Sungmin could almost see Zhou Mi pouting on the other end of the phone. “Sure.”
“Thank you! Ah- Kevin! Eli! Get down from-“
The phone went dead.
Sungmin sniggered to himself and walked back to his table, where Jessica was finishing off the last of his food. “I gotta go ‘Sica, before the kids tear poor Mimi alive.”
Jessica laughed at the image. She walked Sungmin outside before the two separated at the cross light.
“I’m here!”
An entire roomful of little kids stopped what they were doing before rampaging over to him and giving him hugs and kisses.
One little girl, Luna, dragged him off to read them stories.
“Minnie! Turn the page.” Sungmin snapped out of thoughts and realized that he must have dazed off. Smiling sheepishly at the kids, he continued to read.
Zhou Mi came up to him after the kids had fallen asleep. “Are you okay Minnie? You don’t seem too focused today.”
Sungmin smiled at the tall man. Zhou Mi was a tall, Chinese man Sungmin had first met at a charity drive a year back. Honestly, Zhou Mi had intimidated him at first. The other man was tall and beautiful and looked like he belonged on a runway rather than a daycare. Despite the first impressions, Sungmin and Zhou Mi had lots in common. They both liked shopping, Hello Kitty, Shojo Manga. Pink (because not many men liked pink nowadays.) Even their nicknames were similar! How could they not have become friends?
“I’m fine Mimi.” Sungmin beamed at Zhou Mi. The taller man had shown off an equally bright smile.
“Something good?”
Sungmin looked at Zhou Mi, surprised. He smiled softly.
“Yea.” Sungmin fiddled with the phone he’d fished out of his pocket. “Something great.”
When Sungmin arrived at the dinner Eunhyuk had told him to be at, Heechul was on the phone speaking to someone. He kept switching between English, Korean and broken Mandarin. Sungmin had guessed that he was talking to Han Geng, his boyfriend, by the level of his voice and the ferocity of his speech.
“So how is Geng?” Sungmin had asked after Heechul had finally hungup, and Eunhyuk had walked through the door.
“Fine.” Heechul replied bluntly.
Becoming friends with Heechul’s was probably the weirdest process he’s ever gone through.
Sungmin had known about Heechul since the beginning of university as the campus’s biggest ‘Drama Queen’. It was by complete chance tht he’d bumped into him in the hall. Heechul cursed at him before grabbing him by the chin, kissing him, muttering something about potential and dragging him off. Their ‘friendship’ at first had been based of petty threats and Heechul’s experiments, but over the years, they had formed a real friendship, surprisingly. And Heechul wasn’t so bad once you knew him and didn’t get on his bad side.
The three friends hung out at the dinner, talking eating and doing nothing in particular. Sungmin constantly fingered the phone in his pocket unconsciously throughout the time.
“And then he’s like-“
“Hold on.” Sungmin pushed his finger against Heechul’s lips when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, effectively shutting the older man up. Heechul rolled his eyes but sat back and sipped his iced-tea either way.
“Hello?”
Sungmin smiled, his breath catching, when a voice on the other side erupted in song, voice smooth and beautiful.
The young man waited until the song was over, and the same voice spoke words that he’d been waiting to hear all day.
“Hyung, I’m at the airport. Come pick me up?”
Sungmin smiled giddily into the receiver. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Wait for me.”
“I’ve been waiting for five years, I’m not gonna stop now.”
Sungmin grinned as he turned the phone off. “I have to go.” He said, getting out of his seat abruptly and grabbing his things.
“Where are you going?” Eunhyuk asked, raising his eyebrow.
“I’m meeting my boyfriend.” Sungmin smiled angelically and ran off before he had to answer any more questions.
Sungmin ran through the airport doors in a hurry. He scanned the vast crowd for familiar figure.
The man sighed dejectedly as nothing seemed to cross his view.
“Are you looking for anyone in particular?” Sungmin jumped when a velvety voice ghosted over his ear.
The dark-haired man spun around as arms wrapped around his waist. “Not anymore.” Sungmin wraps his own arms around the person. “I missed you, Kyuhyun.” He whispers into Kyuhyun’s chest, unable to help the tears that slowly leaked out from him.
Kyuhyun slowly rubbed circles into Sungmin's back, burying his own face into the shorter man’s hair. “Don’t cry, Min. I’m here now. “
Sungmin looked up from Kyuhyun’s chest, eyes still teary. “I know. And this time, things will be better.”
Sungmin leaned up and kissed Kyuhyun on the lips.
A wave of awes fell around them from people witnessing the scene, but the two men only saw each other.
Because they were together. And this time, this time they would start over, and they would make it work, because nothing could get between them now.